Colonel general who was promoted to
the temporary rank of general field marshal in September 1909. He was
the son of Duke George II of Saxe- Meiningen and was married to Kaiser
Wilhelm II's oldest sister Charlotte. Although placed on inactive duty
in 1912, during the Great War Duke Bernhard spent some time on the
Western Front visiting the troops from his duchy. The last ruling Duke
of Sachsen-Meiningen, Bernhard III died in
January 1928 in his hometown of Meiningen.